The present invention relates to data connectors for use in conjunction with laptop computers and other portable computing/communications devices.
Technology is providing us with an ever-increasing number of types of portable computing and communications devices, including laptop computers, so-called personal digital assistants (PDAs), and portable terminals such as are used by package deliverymen. These devices, while designed to be principally used in a portable, stand-alone, mode often need to be connected to other, fixed systems from time to time. For example, a traveling executive may wish to upload computer files or calendar information created on a laptop computer or PDA into her office personal computer (PC) or into a file server accessed via, for example, a local area network or the dial-up telephone network. Similarly, the package deliveryman may need to effect an exchange of information between his portable terminal and a host computer mounted in his truck.
Applications such as these give rise for the need for data connectors that are reliable, rugged and easy to use. Unfortunately, today's data connectors for such applications are anything but. For example, the physical pins used in the "male" section of the typical data connector, are subject to damage due to contamination, misaligned insertions and physical trauma (e.g., being dropped.) The sockets used in the female section of the connector are also subject to contamination. These problems can be alleviated to some extent via the provision of, for example, small access "doors" which can protect against contamination and the inadvertent insertion of foreign objects, e.g., paper clips, into the sockets. Such access doors, however, are inconvenient to deal with. Moreover, they tend to be rather fragile and to eventually break off.